The Trouble With 12 Grimmauld Place
by Rainyrose
Summary: When everyone at Headquarters goes out to Diagon Alley for some shopping, Harry is left home with Sirius to avoid dangerous confrontations with death eaters. However, they may not be as safe as everyone thinks...


1The first thing Harry noticed was that he was sweating. He mumbled a little, still drowsy, and rubbed at his eyes. His thoughts were muddled from sleep, and from the extreme heat that was currently seeping through the walls of his bedroom in number 12 Grimmauld Place. Strange, that… Yesterday had had dreadful foggy weather, hadn't it?

Harry moaned a little out of irritation, as his thoughts slowly cleared into coherency. Today was the 29th of August. That meant that today was the day when everyone was going shopping in Diagon Alley. Everyone except him, that is.

According to Dumbledore, Harry was to remain behind because of the increasing Death Eater activity. According to Dumbledore, Harry was too much at risk to so much as step out of the house with his invisibility cloak draped over his head, some polyjuice potion in his stomach, and a guard made up of 20 people at his side.

Or perhaps it was because Dumbledore hated him now, Harry thought darkly. Ever since Harry had first arrived at Headquarters two weeks ago, the headmaster avoided talking to him at all costs. This left Harry completely bewildered. In the past, Dumbledore had always encouraged him to come to his office any time; even when he just needed to see a friendly face.

But this summer was different. Something had changed Dumbledore's mind about Harry. For the life of him, Harry couldn't figure out what he'd done wrong. The sudden change of character was extremely _out_ of character for the wise old wizard.

And now he was being forced to sit here like a good boy, all by himself, in a risk free manner, while the rest of his friends got to go outside in the fresh air and have fun.

'Hang on. You're not going to be completely alone,' said a voice in the back of his head. 'Sirius is going to be here with you….' At the thought of his godfather, Harry's mood slipped even further. If anyone deserved to get out of this dreadful house for the afternoon, it was Sirius.

Harry sighed, stretched his arms, and rose from the bed to gather some wrinkled clothes together to take to the bathroom. He'd probably feel better after a shower, anyways.

?????

Fifteen minutes later, after several fruitless attempts to flatten his chaotic hair, Harry trudged down the grimy stairs towards the kitchen. With each footfall, small puffs of dust rose from the steps and swirled around his feet, dirtying the cuffs of his jeans. 'Has everyone already left?' he wondered, pondering at the creepy silence drifting from every dark corner of the manor. He hastened forwards a bit faster, eager to find the company of his godfather.

As he neared the basement kitchen door he heard voices, or rather, a loud jumble of excited words being exchanged between a very large group of people. Harry took a deep breath, pasted an idiotically cheerful smile onto his face, and pushed the door open.

Nobody seemed to notice his entrance at first, as they were all far too excited for the trip ahead. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, Tonks, and Remus Lupin were seated around the table finishing up their breakfast, while Kingsley, Mad-eye Moody, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, Bill, Charlie, Professor McGonagall and Snape stood milling around the room, chatting (or in Snape's case, scowling at the wall with a look of deep disgust etched upon his face). As Harry scanned the room, his eyes found his godfather seated separately from the rest of the group, in the chair at the far corner of the table. His arms were folded, and his own scowl could easily rival Snape's. As Harry looked on, Sirius raised his head to meet Harry's eyes. He grimaced, and beckoned his godson to the empty seat beside him.

That was the moment Mrs. Weasley finally noticed Harry's appearance. "Harry! Oh dear, I hope you had a good sleep! Come over to the table, we've got plenty for breakfast, there's some muffins in the basket there-" Harry could feel his face burning from being mothered in front of half the Order. He refrained from saying anything, though, and obediently made his way over to the table.

The talking quieted for a brief moment after Mrs. Weasley's exclamation, and Harry suddenly felt very awkward. He self-consciously kept his head bowed and reached for a muffin, nodding in response to Hermione's quiet "Good morning, Harry" and Ron's vague "Hey, mate."

Gradually, the talking increased to its original level, and Harry caught snatches of the conversation as he seated himself. "Our guard is going to be standing at the corner near Flourish and Blotts-" Remus was explaining to Hermione, who was perched on the edge of her seat, obviously happy that her favorite book store would be well protected in case of an emergency.

Further down the table, Fred and George had their heads together, muttering about something. Mrs. Weasley noticed this too, and hastened forwards to break up their plans before they could develop further.

Kingsley's deep voice rumbled through the din, conversing with Moody about the Auror headquarters at the Ministry, and how some witch called Umbridge kept trying to interfere with the department's affairs. Harry briefly wondered who the witch was, and racked his brains for a face to put with the name. He knew he'd heard it somewhere before....

Harry gave a start when Sirius draped an arm over the back of his chair and ruffled his damp hair. He grinned when Harry turned to scowl at him. "So," he said, smirking at Harry's desperate attempts to fix the messy mop on his head, "Looks like it's just you and me as soon as this lot leaves." He jerked his head towards the talkative crowd.

Immediately Harry's false grin disappeared. "What?" Sirius asked, pretending to be offended. "Is spending the entire day with your godfather really that bad?"

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but Snape beat him to it. "Obviously it is, Black. I, for one, cannot even fathom to think of how anyone could stand to be in your presence for more than a second without going completely insane."

Sirius's eyes flickered in annoyance. "At least I don't eavesdrop on other people's conversations. Say, when was the last time you had a shower, Snively? It appears that your hair is starting to get a bit greasy."

Snape rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Are you ever going to mature and realize that those juvenile insults no longer have an impact on me?"

"So you're saying that they actually impacted you while we were at Hogwarts? I don't believe it! Remus, Snively finally admitted-"

"TIME TO LEAVE!" Mrs. Weasley screeched before the pitiful argument could morph into something more dramatic. "Ginny, Ron, Hermione, I want you three to group with a pair of guards. Remus? Would you and Tonks-" The trio was already shuffling to group with Lupin and Tonks, and as a group they disappeared up the stairs to wait in the entrance hall. Before he completely exited the room, Lupin gave Sirius a meaningful warning look which obviously stated quite clearly, "Behave, for Merlin's sake!" Sirius just scowled at him.

"Fred, George," Mrs. Weasley continued, rounding on the twins. "I will not tolerate any funny business. You will behave yourselves or you'll end up back here in a matchbox. Am I understood?" They nodded identically, pasting innocent looks upon their faces. Harry snorted, seeing through the act immediately. As the twins left the room with Moody, Kingsley, Charlie, Dung, and Mr. Weasley, Fred inconspicuously shot Harry a wink.

That left Sirius, Harry, McGonagall, Snape, and Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen. Snape strode through the room abruptly without looking at anyone. McGonagall clasped her hands behind her back and turned to Sirius and Harry.

"You two will behave yourselves as well. We will not return to Headquarters only to find it in ruins."

"We're not going to blow up the house!" Harry exclaimed indignantly.

Sirius laid a calm hand on his shoulder. "What time do you expect to be back?" he asked.

"We shouldn't be longer than a few hours," said Mrs. Weasley. "We can eat lunch somewhere in the Alley. Expect us to return by two."

The witches followed the rest of the group upstairs. The sound of bustling footsteps on the floor above the kitchen soon faded into its original eerie silence, and Sirius and Harry were left sitting at the old kitchen table, alone.


End file.
